Ornament-securing means



July 20 1926.

[Filed July 27, 1925 IN VEN TOR 62770 A TTORNEY Patented July 20, .1926.

MAX COLTON, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

ORNAMENT-SECURING MEANS.

Application filed July 27, 1925.

This invention relates to means for attaching an alphabetic letter,initial, monogram, symbol, or other indicating character of silver, goldor other substance, to gems 6 in rings or other ornamental articles, andit has special reference to means whereby the characters may bepermanently secured to such gems for articles of adornment.

Heretofore great difliculty has been en- 1O countered in securing aletter or the like to the surface of a gem in such a way that the letterwould remain in fixed position upon the surface of the gem. Protrudingfrom the surface of the gem and being unsecurely fastened, indicatingcharacters of this sort also very easily catch in dresses, silks,wovenor knitted fabrics, etc., thus causing annoyance to the wearer ofthe ornament as .well as to the persons aifected by the damage to theirpersonal belongings.

Furthermore, the screws with which these charactershave'been fastenedare very small and therefore difiicult tohandle, and no provision hasbeen made in the previous art to lessen the difiiculty of attaching thecharacters to the respective ornamental articles. For this reason, thescrews have been easily lost, thereby causing much delay and confusionbefore the attachment of such a character could be accomplished, ornecessitating the assistance of some one especially skilled in theassemblingof minute mechan ical devices.

One ob]ect of my invention 18 to provide mental article and, while soattached, to be prevented from turning thereon.

Another object is to provide the ornamental article with permanentattaching means for the different characters so that no loss of anypartsmay be occasioned, even if an unskilled person attempts theassembling.

A. still further object of my invention is to minimize the liability ofthe corners or edges of the attached character catching in silks,dresses, threads, woven or knitted fabrics, the hair, etc., and thussafeguard a wearer of an ornamental article having a character attachedthereto by my improved means from petty accidents, which causeannoyance, more or less, when they occur frequently.

Further objects and advantages of'my invention will appear from thesubjoined demeans so that a character of this sort may be easily andsecurely attached to an orna-' Serial No. 46,347.

tail description thereof, and in which reference is made to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan of my invention, as applied toa gem set in a. ring,and shows an indicating character held securely in the recessed obverseface of the gem.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the ring, the gem and the indicatingcharacter secured thereto, as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged and broken sectional view of Fig. 1, showingthegem and the flared, threaded stem therein holding the indicatingcharacter to the gem; one edge of the recess which prevents thecharacter from turning is also shown.

Fig. 4,- is a sectional view analogous to Fig. 3, showing the flaredstem pushed back and simultaneously guiding and centering the threadedextension of the character previous to its securement as shown in Fig.

Fig. 5 is a plan of another embodiment of my invention, and as appliedto a fiatsurfaced gem set in a" ring; and

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of it.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged and brolrensectional view of the gem shown inFigs. 5 and 6 and illustrates the attachment of an indicating characterto the fiat-surfaced gem, and the means for preventing the' turning ofthe attached character; and.

Fig. 8 is a plan of the gem of Fig. 7 and the stem thereof, showingclearly the groove means which prevents the character from turning whensecured to the gem.

In the embodiment of my invention illus trated in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4, aring 10 has set therein a gem 11 by any suitable means, such asoverlapping edges 12, engaging the beveled edges 14 of the gem 11. Thegem may be artistically shaped in order to enhance its value as anornamental article. The obverse face15 of the gem has a recess 16 formedtherein, one of the edges 17 of the recess being shown in Figs. 3 and 4.Preferably, the bottom of the recess is also transversely curved, as isshown more clearly at 18 in Fig. 2. The recess 16 is formed for thepurpose of seating therein a character 20, which in Fig. 1 is shown asthe letter although it may be any other letter, numeral, monogram,symbol or figure having for its purpose the indication orexpression something of especial significance to the owner or the wear of the gem.Hereinafter the character 20 will therefore be referred to simply as anindicating character.

This indicating character 20 has on its reverse side an externallythreaded projection 21, and the ornamental article or gem 11 has thereinan opening 22, which may be countersunk, as shown at 23. Through theopening 22 extends a stem 26 which is turnable, and which stem has atone end a slotted head 27 adapted to engage the counterbored face 25 inthe reverse side 24 of the gem, and at its other end an internallythreaded part 28 provided with a flare 30 at its extremity adapted toengage the threaded projection 21 of the character 20. It is seen that,by means of the flare 30 and the head 27, the stem 26, which is slidablein the opening 22, is prevented from losing its connection with theornamental article 11, so that they serve as a means of permanentattachment for the stem to the article.

In practice, the flare 80 also serves the purpose of guiding theprojection 21 of the character to the stem 26, so that the attachment ofthe character to the article is easily made thereby. It is onlynecessary to hold the character 20 in such a position that theprojection 21 is in approximately axial alignment with the stem 26. Bymeans of a screw-driver applied to the slotted head 27, the stem is thenreadily turned and, as the head is screwed home onto the counter-boredface 25, the character is at the same time tightened in the recess, and,the edges of the character engaging the edges of the recess 16; thus thecharacter is firmly secured to the gem and prevented from turning.

Although the surface 18 is shown curved, it is not absolutely necessarythat it should be so formed. It appears, however, that by curving thecharacter correspondingly or probably a trifle more so that the edges ofthe character are forced against the edges of the recess, a firmerattachment is established. Then, as the edges of the character are belowthe surface of the gem, it is seen that threads, textile fabrics, etc,cannot easily be caught between the character and the gem.

In the modification of my invention, shown in Figs. 5, 6, 7 and S, thegem 11 is secured to the ring 10 in the same manner as shown in Figs. 1and 2. In this modified construction the recess is omitted, and theobverse face 15 is flat, as is also the reverse side of the character 20when the character is pressed down upon the face 15'. The character 20,how-ever, before its attachment to the gem may be slightly curved, as inFig. 2, in order that the corners and edges may more firmly bear uponthe obverse face of the gem and thus minimize the liability of fabricsand the like being caught between the character and the gem.

The character 20 has on its reverse side a U-shaped projection 19, oneprong 21' of which is externally threaded for the same purpose as theprojection 21 shown in Figs. 3 and 4. Another prong 19 of the U-shapedprojection, when the prong 21 is in axial alignment with the opening 22,is in axial alignment with a hole 29 drilled in the gem. Also, theobverse face 15 of the gem has a groove or recess 29 therein forreceiving and snugly holding, when the character is attached to the gem,the part of the U- shaped projection that connects the two prongs 19 and21.

In other respects this modified construction corresponds with theconstruction shown in Figs. 1 to 4, so that further description appearsunnecessary. It remains only to mention that the prong 19', fittingclosely in the hole 29 and being partially assisted by the engagement ofthe U-shaped projection with the groove 29, here serves as the means forpreventing the character 20 from turnlng.

From the foregoing it is understood that my invention comprises noveland useful means for attaching an indicating character to an ornamentalarticle. Of course, I do not confine the application of my invention toa ring, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, 5 and 6, but it is applicable to otherarticles of adornment, too numerous here to specify, and it should benoted that slight changes may be made, if they are within the scope ofthe appended claims, without affecting the spirit of my invention.Therefore, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent ofthe United States, is the following:

1. In combination with an indicating character provided with anexternally threaded projection, an ornamental article having an observeface adapted to receive the character thereon; and a stem slidablyextending through an opening in the article and having at one end a headadapted to engage the reverse side of the article and at its other endan internally threaded part provided with a flare at its extremity, theflare adapted to guide the threaded projection and, in conjunction withsaid head, to cause the stem to be permanently attached to said article,and the said threaded part adapted to engage the threaded projection,the character being secured to the article by the stem heads engagementwith said reverse side.

2. In combination with an indicating character provided with anexternally threaded projection, an ornamental article having an obverseface adapted to receive the character thereon; a stem slidably extendingthrough an opening in the article and having at one end a head adaptedto engage the reverse side of the article and at its other end aninternally threaded part provided with a flare at its extremity, theflare adapted to guide the threaded projection and, in conjunction withsaid head, to cause the stem to be permanently attached to said article,and the said threaded part adapted to engage the threaded projection,the character being secured to the article by the stem heads engagementwith said reverse side; and means for preventing the turning of thecharacter while secured to the article.

3. In combination with an indicating character provided with a threadedprojection, an ornamental article having in its obverse face a recessadapted to seat the character therein; a stem slidably extending throughan opening in the article and having at one end a head adapted to engagethe reverse side of the article and at its other end a threaded partadapted to engage the threaded projection, said stem being permanentlyattached to said article, and the character being snugly held betweenthe edges of the recess and thereby prevented from turning, and securedto the article by the stem heads engagement with said reverse side.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

MAX COLTON.

